Monthly Archives: August 2011

August 18, 2011 · 3:34 pm

The album has now been out for a month. We’ve had some time to digest what that means for us to finally have our second release hit the streets. Skybucket Records has done an amazing job of spreading the word for us. We’ve had some great reviews and feel like there are folks out there who really connect with what we were trying to do with the album.

It takes a lot to put an album together and so many people go unrecognized for their hard work. Let’s take a moment to talk about some of those people. Our bass player, Brian Moon, is also our engineer. Getting to record and produce your own album has its perks. Since you aren’t paying by the hour, you can spend as much time as you like trying to find the sound you are looking for, plus you have complete creative control. On the other hand, you can also spend too much time recording, wearing out your ears and your brain and everyone else’s patience. As a member, Brian has a keen sense of what the band is looking for in terms of sound. He was instinctive, patient, and incredibly resourceful. Each session, we invaded his home and took up all of his free time. Not only did he engineer and record and help to produce the album, he also spent long, arduous hours mixing it. No single member spent more time on this album than Brian. For that, we owe a serious debt of gratitude. In the end, he did a fantastic job and made an album to which we feel deeply connected.

While we are on the subject of band members putting in hard hours, drummer Chance Shirley, who just so happens to be a filmmaker in his “spare time”, has now made three music videos for the band. One of them is released, the other two are in the editing process. Shooting and editing the video while also starring in it is another sign of serious dedication to the efforts of this band. Seriously, these guys need a break!

Then there are the people outside the band who are helping make all the parts move. Of course there is Travis Morgan and the Skybucket team, who’ve been great cheerleaders for the band as well as helped manage our affairs and get our records into more hands. But also, there is Stacey Kines Jaynes, my cousin, who found all the great pictures of our grandmother to use for the album’s cover art. There is Joanna Holloway, who created the beautiful artwork for Some Creatures. And there is Mike Paragone in Nashville, who mastered the album, bringing the album to a new light.

There are so many other people who helped us along the way and who continue to support us and cheer us on. We are so grateful to have such wonderful, supportive people in our lives.